But thankfully Mitchell was able to pull through, and now he’s in the pool with Sebastian and the other two. I grin as I watch Big Mitchell grab Little Mitchell – that’s the way we differentiate between them around here – and throw him into the air.
My son splashes and then Seb’s on him, lifting him up. Everybody laughs, as music plays from a Bluetooth speaker sitting on a garden chair.
Jamie and Ethan dance over to the set and start switching the tracks, giving each other little looks every time it changes. Ethan laughs and throws his hands up, and then they settle on a song. It’s so nice to see them together, the little moments that make up their relationship.
Soon I’m going to be a grandfather. They’ve decided to adopt.
More and more happiness blossoms in me every time I hear another piece of good news. Sometimes it’s difficult to believe that anything could blossom in my cold grim chest, but Lorena has changed me.
My woman, my wife, the love of my life.
I study her again. I only let my gaze scan across her because I know what I’m like. Even with five children – Isabella is sleeping in her crib, in the house, with her baby monitor on – and with our family all around us, I can’t stop myself from stripping her bare with my eyes.
She’s wearing a summer dress, the sort that settles against her body like she’s trying to tempt me. She’s become even more curvaceous as time has gone on, and each child has only added to how badly I want her.
She sees me looking and smiles, and I smile back. She says something to Charlotte, and then my daughter skips over. She’s holding something to her chest.
“Daddy, I did it.”
“Your story?” I kneel down and hold my hand out. “Can I see it?”
She blushes. “Yeah, Daddy. But you have to remember it’s not done yet. Mommy says writers can do first drafts. And this is my first draft. Kay?”
I grin. “That’s A-okay with me, princess.”
She hands me the book and I open it, and by the second page, I’m struggling not to break down with love.
“What’s that, Lukas?”
I smile up at my dad, with his shock of white hair and his kind eyes.
“Charlotte wrote a story. It’s about how I met her mother. But it’s also about if we’d never met, how different our lives would’ve been.”
“Do you like it, daddy?” Charlotte asks.
“I love it,” I tell her, as I continue to scan her neat handwriting.
Without him, mommy would only be half a person, and it’s the same for daddy. In these other lives, they are very lonely and hopeless. But with each other, they are never sad. They never have to be afraid. Together, they can do anything.
“I love you, sweetness.”
“I love you too, Daddy.”